Tim Nixon, Head of Technology Division of General Motors realized something was strange when his sons approached navigation technology or gps systems for cars. They simply rotate iPhone to a horizontal position and placed in the front window, and starts the application free maps to guide where willing to walk that day.
The second action is the same son form his father's rejection of the work so far, which is to convince the consumer to add the cost of 1,500 U.S. dollars or more in order to get a complete gps systems for cars with 8 inch touch screen on the dashboard of your car.
"History shows that we already offer integrated GPS on car dashboard. But, it will not work again this time. Game has changed and the new standards are set higher than the device that is always online, providing fresh information into the car," said Tim .
Development focus this time was to create a car that could total online. Just can streeming sites to music from the radio in the car is outdated. More and more people are using smart phones, benefits of car navigation systems manufacturer danger of being lost. The reason is simple, many applications now offered free maps, whereas GPS in the car had to pay 500-2000 dollars.
gps systems for cars related to Social Networking
Other threats also come from the development of social networking sites with maximizing use map applications, such as Waze. This site is claimed has been downloaded 48 million users in the world, simply armed with smart phones. They can report road conditions, congestion, accidents, including choosing the fastest route to reach the destination. Last month, Google compete with Facebook to acquire Waze, with a dowry of up to 1.1 billion dollars.
"If you were to choose between paying for expensive GPS on car dashboard or a free app on the iPhone, about which one would you choose? Thus (it is) can be considered a threat," beber Di-Ann Eisnor, Waze U.S. Business division head.
Blow trend of mobile applications on the phone to force car manufacturers should be able to adapt so it can still benefit from a navigation system. Previously, institute researcher IHS Automotive predicts the number on the car navigation system installation number will increase to 32.7 million units by 2019, double from this year is estimated at 13.8 million. Half of the cars are marketed to the world already equipped with the navigation system at the time.
Weakness
"The function of the navigation system is Turned on the use of internet browser or infotaiment system," said Mark Boyadjis, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Minnetonka, USA. In fact, industry players of navigation devices like Garmin and TomTom began offering applications that are compatible with smart phones.
Until now, most of the navigation system has not been able to go online to the internet. They only use maps that are stored in memory and uses satellites to determine where the position is located. The weakness of this system quickly lose information. Especially, new locations, which favored consumers like the new coffee shop or gas station. While the application is connected to the Internet, the data can be updated, at any time.
"If we want to update the data on our GPS, the process is complicated and expensive. Had to go to the official network. While the cell phone, simply download the latest version," says John Canali, an analyst with Strategy Alaytics in Boston. Not to mention, the GPS on the dash is not uncommon for its frustrating because it is too complicated and not "friendly use" for the driver.
Finally, the Dilemma on gps systems for cars is not so simple for car manufacturers. The technology is expensive, while other cheap technology has been. Finally, let's costumers decide.
